Proper Reporting of Statistical Parameters in Clinical Trials Published in Indian Medical Journals. Is Inclusion of Statistician Play any Significant Role?
2011

The Role of Statisticians in Clinical Trials

Sample size: 68 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Jaykaran Chavda, N Yadav

Primary Institution: Govt. Medical College, Surat, India

Hypothesis

Does the inclusion of a statistician significantly improve the reporting of statistical parameters in clinical trials?

Conclusion

The study found that including a statistician mainly improves the reporting of sample size and number of primary endpoints, but does not significantly enhance other statistical parameters.

Supporting Evidence

  • The role of a statistician was acknowledged in 19.1% of the trials analyzed.
  • Of the trials with a statistician, 61.5% were positive outcomes.
  • Statistically significant differences were found in sample size and number of primary endpoints between trials with and without a statistician.

Takeaway

This study looked at how having a statistician helps in clinical trials, and found that they mostly help with figuring out how many people should be in the study and how many main results there are.

Methodology

The study analyzed clinical trials published in four Indian medical journals over nine years, focusing on the role of statisticians and various statistical parameters.

Potential Biases

There may be under-reporting of the role of statisticians in the trials.

Limitations

The study's limitations include a small sample size and uncertainty about when statisticians contributed to the trials.

Participant Demographics

Clinical trials from Indian medical journals.

Statistical Information

P-Value

0.019

Confidence Interval

95% CI: 11.5%-30%

Statistical Significance

p<0.05

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.4103/0975-1483.80308

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